This is a great tutorial that I used to practice my own renderings, which can be found in Projects>01. Try it yourself! From Michael DiTullo: “Below is a quick demo from some simple inspiration images to a presentation rendering. I … Continue reading →

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“A new model of car is being manufactured using three dimensional printing technology. The Urbee 2 is a remodel of the small two passenger hybrid Urbee vehicle that uses solar and wind energy along with an ethanol powered engine. The engine is metal, but the body of the newly designed model vehicle will be made of plastic parts that are printed using liquid polymer and a 3D printer.

“The 3D printing facilities are at RedEye on Demand, a 3D printing production company that helps customers who don’t want to buy a printer of their own, but still want to use the technology. The entire process of printing the car takes about 25 hundred hours. It only has approximately 40 parts, which is very few compared to the hundreds of individual components that make up the average car. Its lightweight plastic frame and aerodynamic design improves fuel efficiency without sacrificing safety. The designers of the vehicle plan to make the end product ‘exceed most, if not all, current automotive safety standards.’

“And the team has plans to take the prototype for a test drive all the way from San Francisco to New York on 10 gallons of gas. What do you think of the Urbee 2?”

From 3D Printing Industry: “The latest design challenge comes from i.materialise and the company wants the emphasis to be on 3D printed designs with ceramic materials. It is a completely open challenge in terms of application areas and entrants can be of any age, experience or geographical location. Unsurprisingly, the one limitation that does apply is the size of the design, maximum dimensions are set at 15 x 15 x 15 cm.

“The challenge was opened yesterday and will run through until 23:59 May 23th Central European Time, 2013, after which time the jury (comprising the i.materialise team) will select one winning design which will be 3D printed in ceramic from a choice of nine colours.

“i.materialise states that there is no limit on the number of entries per designer but each entry requires a clear description and explanation in no less than 50 words. All designs can be uploaded here.”

From COROFLOT: “Exoskeleton- Inspiration drawn from the architectural structure and silhouettes of marine invertebrates, creatures and insects external skeletons. Using the advanced technology of 3D Printing these fluid anatomical shapes are not only translated visually but also in the design process. Nominated for the 2012 Mulberry Accessory Award. Shoes 3D modelled by Inner Leaf (inner-leaf.com).”

From c|net: “The 3D printing movement is well under way — albeit with some hype built in — and Shapeways, a marketplace where people can design, create, and sell their own products, is leading the charge.

“Shapeways, sometimes known as the Etsy for 3D printing, now has 10,000 “shop owners” — people who have designed products, from iPhone cases to jewelry and shoes, that they print out and sell via Shapeways. The New York-based company is building out its recently opened 3D printing factory in the Queens borough of New York City, where its printers are cranking out roughly 1,000 products a day. By the end of the year, co-founder and CEO Peter Weijmarshausen said that he expects to be printing products a rate of 2 million to 3 million a year.”

From New Balance: “Global athletic leader New Balance is proud to announce a significant advancement in the use of 3D printing to customize high performance products for athletes. Utilizing a proprietary process, the brand is able to produce spike plates customized to the individual needs and desires of their elite athletes. At the New Balance Games in January 2013, Team New Balance athlete, Jack Bolas, became the first ever track athlete to compete in customized, 3D printed plates.

“New Balance has developed a proprietary process for utilizing a runner’s individual biomechanical data to create hyper-customized spike plates designed to improve performance. The process requires race simulation biomechanical data which the New Balance Sports Research Lab collects using a force plate, in-shoe sensors and a motion capture system. Advanced algorithms and software are then applied to translate this data into custom 3D printed spike designs.”

From Nike: “The quest for acceleration and speed has long been the north star for athletes across sport, and in order to excel in the game of football, the mastery of these skills is seen in the 40-yard dash. Played out on a national stage in Indianapolis, pro scouts clock 40-yard dash times in order to assess and translate these measurements to a football athlete’s game-time ability.

“Today, Nike Football debuted the Nike Vapor Laser Talon with a revolutionary 3D printed plate that will help football athletes perform at their best. In a version built to master the 40, the Nike Vapor Laser Talon weighs a mere 5.6 oz. and is specifically designed to provide optimal traction on football turf and to help athletes maintain their ‘drive stance’ longer.”

From Studio Daily: “Imaginary Forces has worked on many Nike projects over the years. But the CG animation they created for the company’s new running shoe, the Nike LunarEclipse+ 2, stands out as something different. While Nike’s creative brief outlined a spot that would use the stride of a runner to showcase the shoe’s Dynamic Fit technology in a simple way, it was up to the Imaginary Forces team to come up with a look and an arc for the story.

“’We decided on a hand-drawn style for the animation, which I think got us the job, in a way,” recalls Charles Khoury, who directed the spot and led the Imaginary Forces team on the project. “There’s something about the quality of the lines that make things look more personable and emotional than they would with a CG-rendered foot.’”

From 3D Printing Industry: “Following discussions with its clients, Materialise, the Belgian-based 3D printing company, has officially introduced a new, highly flexible and durable material for 3D Printing. Even though it doesn’t have a particularly inspiring, or even interesting, name — it’s called TPU 92A-1 — it’s definitely worth taking note. Particularly designers and engineers, some of whom have apparently been challenging Materialise to come up with a flexible 3D Printing material that is durable enough to withstand the wear and tear of an end-use product for a while. The response from Materialise is TPU 92A-1, developers at the company have been working on this for a while. And I’ve heard that, prior to launch, in an impromptu test to see how good it actually was – a couple of Materialise peeps were dragging each other around the floor with it and it didn’t tear!”